Synthesis of lipidated eNOS peptides by combining enzymatic, noble metal- and acid-mediated protecting group techniques with solid phase peptide synthesis and fragment condensation in solution

Lipid-modified proteins play decisive roles in important biological processes such as signal transduction, organization of the cytoskeleton, and vesicular transport. Lipidated peptides embodying the characteristic partial structures of their parent lipidated proteins and semisynthetic proteins synthesized from such peptides are valuable tools for the study of these biological phenomena. We have developed an efficient synthesis strategy that allows for the synthesis of long multiply lipidated peptides embodying various side chain functional groups. The strategy was successfully applied in the synthesis of the N-terminal undetrigintapeptide of endothelial NO-synthase and related lipopeptides. Key elements of the synthesis strategy are the combined use of the enzyme-labile para-phenylacetoxybenzyloxycarbonyl (PhAcOZ) urethane as N-terminal blocking group, the Pd0-sensitive allyl ester as C-terminal protecting function and acid-labile side chain protecting groups for solution-phase synthesis of labile S-palmitoylated building blocks under the mildest conditions with solid-phase techniques and solution-phase fragment condensations. The successful synthesis of the triply lipidated 29-mer eNOS peptide convincingly demonstrates the full capacity of the protecting group methods.     

Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of a Characteristic Glycophosphopeptide from the Transactivation Domain of the Serum Response Factor

Glycopeptides, phosphopeptides, and glycophosphopeptides can be synthesized efficiently by a strategy based on a combination of suitable enzyme-labile protecting groups. Thus, probes for biological studies can be accessed. An example is the glycosylated and phosphorylated heptapeptide 1 from the transactivation domain of the human serum response factor, which contains an additional biotin label for detection with streptavidin.     

Selective Alkaline Protease Catalyzed Hydrolysis of Peptide Esters

Procedures for preparing C-terminal free peptides from hydrolysis of its corresponding methyl or benzyl esters catalyzed by alkaline protease has been developed. N-protected peptides having side-chain ester protecting groups or successive hydrophobic amino acid residues in its sequence are hydrolyzed selectively at C-terminal only and leave other bonds (β and γ- ester or peptide bonds) intact. Compounds which cause a side reaction in base mediated saponification could be hydrolyzed safely by this procedure. Products of this hydrolysis are useful intermediates for fragments coupling in the solid phase peptide synthesis.     

Enzyme-labile protecting groups in peptide synthesis: development of glucose- and galactose-derived urethanes

The development of the tetra-O-acetyl-D-glucopyranosyloxycarbonyl (AGlOC) and tetra-O-acetyl-beta-D-galactopyranosyloxycarbonyl (AGalOC) protecting groups, which are fully enzyme-labile, carbohydrate-derived urethanes, is described. The protected amino acids were easily synthesized and subsequently converted into a series of model dipeptides through classical peptide couplings. Cleavage of an alpha/beta-anomeric mixture of a model AGlOC dipeptide was achieved with a "one-pot" procedure in good yield. To gain a better understanding of the enzymatic deprotection reaction, the AGalOC group was removed through a two step biotransformation (lipase catalyzed deacetylation, followed by beta-galactosidase catalyzed glycosidic bond fragmentation). Under these very mild reaction conditions (aq. buffer pH7.0, 37 degrees C), the desired N-terminal, unprotected dipeptide conjugates were obtained. The methodology was further utilized for the synthesis of an advanced tetrapeptide model system.     

Invited Review Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of Lipidated Peptides

Summary.  This review highlights the use of enzymatic protecting group techniques in the synthesis of lipidated peptides. Lipidated proteins play key roles in signal transduction processes. Moreover, structurally well-defined peptides containing the characteristic linkage region of the peptide backbone with the lipid can provide valuable tools for the study of biological phenomena associated with these protein conjugates. The multifunctionality and pronounced lability towards acids and bases of such compounds render their synthesis a formidable challenge. However, the recent development of enzymatic protection groups provides an efficient access to these sensitive and biologically relevant peptide conjugates under particular mild conditions and with high selectivity. Received December 12, 1999. Accepted January 26, 2000     

Tandem ligation of unprotected peptides through thiaprolyl and cysteinyl bonds in water.

Tandem ligation for the synthesis and modification of proteins entails forming two or more regiospecific amide bonds of multiple free peptide segments without a protecting-group scheme. We here describe a semi-orthogonal strategy for ligating three unprotected peptide segments, two of which contain N-terminal (NT) cysteine, to form in tandem two amide bonds, an Xaa-SPro (thiaproline), and then an Xaa-Cys. This strategy exploits the strong preference of an NT-cysteinyl peptide under acidic conditions to undergo selectively an SPro-imine ligation rather than a Cys-thioester ligation. Operationally, it was performed in the N --> C direction, first by an imine ligation at pH < 3 to afford an Xaa-thiazolidine ester bond between a peptide containing a carboxyl terminal (CT)-glycoaldehyde ester and a second peptide containing both an NT-Cys and a CT-thioester. The newly created O-ester-linked segment with a CT-thioester was then ligated to another NT-cysteinyl peptide through thioester ligation at pH > 7 to form an Xaa-Cys bond. Concurrently, this basic condition also catalyzed the O,N-acyl migration of an Xaa-thiazolidine ester to the Xaa-SPro bond at the first ligation site to complete the tandem three-segment ligation. Both ligation reactions were performed in aqueous buffered solvents. The effectiveness of this three-segment ligation strategy was tested in six peptides ranging from 19 to 70 amino acids, including thiaproline --> proline analogues of somatostatins and two CC-chemokines. The thiaproline replacements in these peptides and proteins did not result in altered biological activity. By eliminating the protecting-group scheme and coupling reagents, tandem ligation of multiple free peptide segments in aqueous solutions enhances the scope of protein synthesis and may provide a useful approach for combinatorial segment synthesis.     

Studies on the enzymatic hydrolysis of polyesters I. Low molecular mass model esters and aliphatic polyesters

The bio-catalysed cleavage of ester bonds in low molecular mass model esters and aliphatic polyesters was studied in detail with the aim to gain improved information about the underlying mechanism and the parameters controlling polyester degradation. Among various hydrolytic enzymes the lipase of Pseudomonas species (PsL) was chosen for the investigations. In the heterogeneous phase system the specific hydrolysis rate of the esters was constant as long as free substrate surface was available. In addition to aliphatic low molecular mass model esters, also cycloaliphatic and aromatic esters were cleaved by PsL, indicating that a steric hindrance of the enzymatic ester cleavage is not the predominant controlling factor in polyester degradation. However, the cleavage rates of the aliphatic model esters are larger by more than an order of magnitude. For aliphatic polyesters the temperature difference between the melting point of the polymer and the temperature where degradation takes place (ΔT_mt), turned out to be the primary controlling parameter for polyester degradation with the lipase. Only if ΔT_mt<30 °C, a measurable enzymatic degradation rate is found. ΔT_mt can be regarded as a measure of the mobility of the polyesters chains in the crystalline domains, necessary for the access of the esters to the active site of the lipase. Though aliphatic homopolyesters are seemingly very similar with regard to their chemical structure and reactivity of the ester bonds, their enzymatic degradation rates still differ significantly even at the same ΔT_mt. These differences have obviously to be attributed to small changes in the chemical structure, as, for instance, the C number of the aliphatic diacid.     

Synthesis and membrane binding properties of a lipopeptide fragment from influenza virus a hemagglutinin

Hemagglutinin from influenza virus A is a S-palmitoylated lipoglycoprotein in which the lipid groups are thought to influence the interaction between cell membrane and capsid during budding of viral offspring as well as fusion processes of the viral membrane with the endosome after entry of the viral particle into the cell. The paper describes the development of a method for the synthesis of characteristic lipidated hemagglutinin derived peptides which additionally carry the fluorescent 7-nitrobenz-2oxa-1,3-diazole (NBD) group. To achieve this goal the enzyme-sensitive para-phenylacetoxybenzyloxycarbonyl (PAOB) ester was developed. It is cleaved from the peptides and lipidated peptides under very mild conditions and with complete selectivity by treatment with the enzyme penicillin G acylase; this results in the formation of a phenolate. This intermediate spontaneously undergoes fragmentation thereby releasing the desired carboxylates. The combined use of this enzyme-labile fragmenting ester with the acid-labile Boc group, the Pd(0)-sensitive allyl ester and the corresponding Aloc urethane gave access to a mono-S-palmitoylated and a doubly S-palmitoylated NBD-labelled hemagglutinin peptide. The binding of these lipopeptides to model membranes was analyzed in a biophysical setup monitoring the transfer of fluorescent-labelled lipopeptide from vesicles containing the non-exchangeable fluorescence quencher Rho-DHPE to quencher-free vesicles. The experiments demonstrate that one lipid group is not sufficient for quasi-irreversible membrane insertion of lipidated peptides. This is, however, achieved by introduction of the bis-palmitoyl anchor. The intervesicle transfer always implies release of peptides localized at the outer face of the vesicles into solution followed by diffusion to and insertion into acceptor vesicles. For peptides bound at the inner face of the vesicle membrane, however, an additional flip-flop diffusion to the outer face has to occur beforehand. The kinetics of these processes were estimated by fast chemical quench of the outside fluorophores by sodium dithionite.     

Identification and localization of the fatty acid modification in ghrelin by electron capture dissociation

Electron capture dissociation (ECD) has been demonstrated to be an effective fragmentation technique for characterizing the site and structure of the fatty acid modification in ghrelin, a 28-residue growth-hormone-releasing peptide that has an unusual ester-linked n-octanoyl (C8:0) modification at Ser-3. ECD cleaves 21 of 23 possible backbone amine bonds, with the product ions (c and z· ions) covering a greater amino acid sequence than those obtained by collisionally activated dissociation (CAD). Consistent with the ECD nonergodic mechanism, the ester-linked octanoyl group is retained on all backbone cleavage product ions, allowing for direct localization of this labile modification. In addition, ECD also induces the ester bond cleavage to cause the loss of octanoic acid from the ghrelin molecular ion; the elimination process is initiated by the capture of an electron at the protonated ester group, which is followed by the radical-site-initiated reaction known as -cleavage. The chemical composition of the attached fatty acid can be directly obtained from the accurate Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) mass measurement of the ester bond cleavage product ions.     

脂蛋白合成新进展

生物体内的信号传导蛋白在膜上的定位与其生物功能的发挥依赖于特定脂肪链的修饰,然而传统的基因表达法合成脂蛋白,得到的纯品产率很低.在近10年中,逐渐发展起来一种新的合成方法,即将化学合成脂修饰的多肽与基因表达培养蛋白相结合,可以合成出具有多条脂肪链修饰的蛋白缀合物,并且整个合成过程在非常温和的环境中进行,产品能保持较高的纯度和活性.采用该方法合成的脂蛋白用于体外的实验中,其结果与生物体内的现象非常接近.脂蛋白合成方法的发展对研究细胞中的信号传导过程具有重要的意义,并在药物合成和提高药效方面都有很多应用,这对于研究恶性肿瘤等疾病的发病机理起到了重要的推动作用.同时该脂蛋白合成的成功是采用化学法合成生物大分子解释生物体内的现象一个重大的突破,是化学生物学发展重要的一步.     

Recent advances in enzyme-mediated peptide ligation

Artificial synthesis and site-specific modification of peptides and proteins have evolved into an indispensable tool for protein engineers and chemical biologists. Chemical and enzymatic approaches to peptide ligation are important alternatives of recombinant DNA technology for protein synthesis and modification. In the past decades, several natural peptide ligases have been discovered. Additionally, protein engineering for improving the ligation efficiencies of the natural peptide ligase and reversing the functionality of protease have provided more powerful peptide ligases. Herein, we briefly summarized the advances of enzyme-mediated peptide ligation and their application in protein synthesis and modification.     

The synthesis of acid- and base-labile lipopeptides on solid support

Lipidated peptides, including characteristic partial structures of human Ras proteins, were synthesized by means of a new solid-phase technique in 22-68 % yield. This technique gives access to farnesylated, palmitoylated, and doubly lipidated peptides as methyl esters or carboxylic acids carrying a fluorescent tag or a maleimide moiety for coupling to proteins. The peptide backbones were built up on the resin by using 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl chemistry together with the oxidatively cleavable hydrazide linker. As a key step, the acid-labile farnesyl and basic-labile palmitoyl lipid groups were introduced onto the resin after the cleavage of appropriate acid- or reduction-sensitive protecting groups from the cysteine residues. Optional introduction of different fluorescent tags or a maleimide group into the peptide was followed by release of the resin-bound target peptide as the methyl ester or carboxylic acid by very mild copper(II)-mediated oxidation in slightly acidic or basic media. This new methodology should substantially facilitate the access to lipidated peptides for the study of important biological phenomena like biological signal transduction, localization, and vesicular transport.     

炔酰胺类缩合剂研究进展

缩合剂是指用于促成羧酸与胺或者醇直接缩合构建酰胺键或酯键的一类试剂的总称.由于酰胺和酯的重要性,缩合剂的开发成为了学术界与工业界广泛关注的一个重要研究方向.多肽合成就是α-氨基酸在缩合剂的作用下反复形成酰胺键的过程,因此,缩合剂在多肽合成中发挥着至关重要的作用.当前多肽合成所使用的试剂和技术大多是20世纪50~80年代发展起来的,这些试剂和技术的天生弊端逐渐显现出来.比如传统多肽缩合剂过度活化α-氨基酸而诱发的外消旋化和其它副反应导致的副产物成为药物多肽生产过程中一个极为关切的问题.另外固相多肽合成的低原子经济性给可持续发展带来了极大的挑战.这些问题只能依靠原始创新的颠覆性技术和全新的缩合方法来解决.我们课题组致力于通过发展新试剂和新反应来解决多肽与蛋白质化学合成领域的难题.本文系统介绍了我们发展的一种结构全新的炔酰胺类缩合试剂及其在酰胺、酯、大环内酯、多肽、硫代多肽合成中的应用研究进展.     

Serine‐Selective Aerobic Cleavage of Peptides and a Protein Using a Water‐Soluble Copper–Organoradical Conjugate

The site‐specific cleavage of peptide bonds is an important chemical modification of biologically relevant macromolecules. The reaction is not only used for routine structural determination of peptides, but is also a potential artificial modulator of protein function. Realizing the substrate scope beyond the conventional chemical or enzymatic cleavage of peptide bonds is, however, a formidable challenge. Here we report a serine‐selective peptide‐cleavage protocol that proceeds at room temperature and near neutral pH value, through mild aerobic oxidation promoted by a water‐soluble copper–organoradical conjugate. The method is applicable to the site‐selective cleavage of polypeptides that possess various functional groups. Peptides comprising D ‐amino acids or sensitive disulfide pairs are competent substrates. The system is extendable to the site‐selective cleavage of a native protein, ubiquitin, which comprises more than 70 amino acid residues.     

Synthesis of nucleopeptides by employing an enzyme-labile urethane protecting group

Nucleoproteins are naturally occurring biopolymers in which the hydroxy group of a serine, a threonine, or a tyrosine moiety is linked through a phosphodiester group to the 3'- or 5'-end of a nucleic acid. For the study of the biological phenomena in which nucleoproteins are involved, for example, viral replication, nucleopeptides embodying the characteristic linkage between the peptide chain and the oligonucleotide may serve as powerful tools. However, as a result of the multifunctionality and the pronounced acid and base lability of nucleopeptides, their synthesis requires the application of a variety of orthogonally stable blocking groups, which can be removed under the mildest conditions. We have developed a new mild enzymatic deprotection method, that is, the penicillin G acylase-catalyzed hydrolysis of the N-phenylacetoxybenzyloxycarbony (PhAcOZ) group, for the synthesis of nucleopeptides. We demonstrate the wide applicability of this method by coupling the N-terminally deprotected nucleopeptides 31 a-c with PhAcOZ-protected amino acids and subsequent removal of the N-PhAcOZ group from fully protected nucleotetrapeptides 32 a,b with penicillin G acylase. The reaction conditions are very mild (pH 6.8) so that no undesired side reaction such as cleavage of the nucleotide bond or beta-elimination of the nucleotide was observed.     

基于“点击反应”的官能化环酯单体的合成及聚酯性能研究进展

聚酯高分子材料在医药生物材料领域有很广泛的应用,尤其是可作为药物缓释材料应用在人体当中。作为药物缓释材料的聚酯,需要具有较多的修饰位点,便于药物分子或其它小分子的键合。为了能够简便地、高效地将小分子键合到聚酯链上,可采用目前热门的"点击反应"进行小分子键合,这就需要将涉及"点击反应"的官能团引入到聚酯链上。由于采用合成聚酯的方法多为开环聚合反应,就需制备出双键和叁键官能化环酯类单体,便于以开环聚合方法制备官能化聚酯。本文综述了近年来基于"点击反应"而合成的官能化环酯类单体,将酯类单体分为三类进行了合成方法的详细介绍,重点归纳了所得到的官能化聚酯的聚合结果及其所键合的分子,阐述了官能化聚酯所具有的新性质,最后对这类聚酯材料的应用前景做了展望。     

Covalent Protein Labeling by Enzymatic Phosphocholination

We present a new protein labeling method based on the covalent enzymatic phosphocholination of a specific octapeptide amino acid sequence in intact proteins. The bacterial enzyme AnkX from Legionella pneumophila has been established to transfer functional phosphocholine moieties from synthetically produced CDP‐choline derivatives to N‐termini, C‐termini, and internal loop regions in proteins of interest. Furthermore, the covalent modification can be hydrolytically removed by the action of the Legionella enzyme Lem3. Only a short peptide sequence (eight amino acids) is required for efficient protein labeling and a small linker group (PEG‐phosphocholine) is introduced to attach the conjugated cargo.     

Perfluoroaryl and Perfluoroheteroaryl Reagents as Emerging New Tools for Peptide Synthesis,Modification and Bioconjugation

Peptides and proteins are becoming increasingly valuable as medicines, diagnostic agents and as tools for biomedical sciences. Much of this has been underpinned by the emergence of new methods for the manipulation and augmentation of native biomolecules. Perfluoroaromatic reagents are perhaps one of the most diverse and exciting tools with which to modify peptides and proteins, due principally to their nucleophilic substitution chemistry, high electron deficiency and the ability for their reactivity to be tuned towards specific nucleophiles. As discussed in this minireview, in recent years, perfluoroaromatic reagents have found applications as protecting groups or activating groups in peptide synthesis and as orthogonal handles for peptide modification. Furthermore, they have applications in chemoselective ‘tagging’, stapling and bioconjugation of peptides and proteins, as well as tuning of ‘drug-like’ properties. This review will also explore possible future applications of these reagents in biological chemistry.     

Chain extension of amino acid skeletons: preparation of ketomethylene isosteres

Ketomethylene isosteric replacements for peptide bonds were generated through a zinc carbenoid-mediated chain extension reaction in which a variety of amino acid-derived β-keto esters are converted to γ-keto esters in a single step. The reaction tolerates a variety of protecting groups and amino acid side chains with no epimerization of the amino acid stereocenter.     

Enzymatic coupling of specific peptides at nonspecific ligation sites: effect of Asp189Glu mutation in trypsin on substrate mimetic-mediated reactions

Two main drawbacks seriously restrict the synthetic value of proteases as reagents in peptide fragment coupling: (i) native proteolytic activity and, thus, risk of undesired peptide cleavage; (ii) limited enzyme specificities restricting the amino acid residues between which a peptide bond can be formed. While the latter can be overcome by the use of substrate mimetics achieving peptide bond formation at nonspecific ligation sites, the risk of proteolytic cleavage still remains and hinders the wide acceptance of this powerful strategy for peptide coupling. This paper reports on the effect of the trypsin point mutant Asp189Glu on substrate mimetic-mediated reactions. The effect of this mutation on the steady-state hydrolysis of substrate mimetics of the 4-guanidinophenyl ester type and on trypsin-specific Lys- and Arg-containing peptides was investigated. The results were confirmed by enzymatic coupling reactions using substrate mimetics as the acyl donor and specific amino acid-containing peptides as the acyl acceptor. The competition assay verifies the predicted shift in substrate preference from Lys and Arg to the substrate mimetics and, thus, from cleavage to synthesis of peptide bonds. The combination of results obtained qualifies the trypsin mutant D189E as the first substrate mimetic-specific peptide ligase.